Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue#140 - September 2017 i Australian Road Rider

1. BIKE PREPARATION Get your motor running — make sure your baby is in tip-top shape, or at least as good as it can be. Know the things that might go wrong on your bike. Remember, it’s going to be under more stress for longer periods than it has ever been. Nowadays it’s easy to find out the foibles of most bikes via marque-specific sites and clubs. Reinforce the weak points and protect the vulnerable bits and pieces that will stop your progress, like a holed radiator, a smashed clutch reservoir or a broken gear lever. Take it to a reputable mechanic to give it the once, twice and three times over, then double check the work to make sure you’re satisfied. Even if you’re buying a bike overseas to…

When I was first handed the keys to Honda’s new CMX500, I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Slick, dark and minimalist, it seemed a little out of character for Honda. Yamaha maybe, but not the shining beacon of Japanese convention and respectability. I immediately started to run through the possibilities. Is it a gateway model to wean new riders onto some new, secret big-bore bobber? Or perhaps just an insightful ploy to wrestle some market share back from Harley- Davidson’s highly successful LAMS-legal Street 500? Irrespective of the real reason, after a few hours in the saddle I soon discovered that there was a whole lot to like about this all-new incarnation of the liquid-cooled 471cc paralleltwin engine and its stripped-back styling. The authentic look is set…

Facebook social groups are the new black. Everybody is doing it, but what are they? They’re a group of people who you mostly don’t know, apart from the person who initially told you about it, and one or two people you may just happen to know by accident. You engage on the group page, but you don’t really know what the members are like, as people or riders, until you go for a ride. You can get an idea what they’re like based on their personal pages, but people aren’t always completely truthful. I’m a perfect example of this. According to my profile I’m 112 years old and live in Norway. I don’t live in Norway. “The cafe looks to be a top place; the barista has dreadlocks and enough…

GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE Dear ARR, The purpose of a motorbike magazine is to entertain, inform and activate people to ride, right? Get them on the road to enjoy the freedom and beauty of riding. My story can do just that. So please allow me to quickly introduce myself and my story. My name is Chantal Simons. I was born and raised in the Netherlands but always had the desire to venture to far-away places on our planet. After my 22nd birthday I obtained my licence and quickly got hooked on motorcycle travel. I rode through nine European countries in 10 days on a Ducati Monster 620, before flying to New Zealand and conquering the country on a 31-year-old Suzuki GS550. Fast forward a few years, I’m in Australia and…

LOOKING BACK As the old story goes, the first motorcycle race began when the second motorcycle was built. We can’t confirm this, but it’s not far off from the truth. As far as we know, the first sanctioned motorcycle race was held on November 29, 1897. It was a road race held on a onemile course at Sheen House in Richmond, England. One Charles Jarrott won in a time of two minutes and eight seconds on his Fournier motorcycle. Go Charles! That may have been the first “official” motorcycle-only race, but it has long been believed that unofficial road racing had been going on for years prior. I guess we’ll never know. LOOKING FORWARD ARR ISSUE 141 ON SALE NOVEMBER 2017 RIDDEN The Bavarian featherweight BMW G 310 R torture-tested…

In 1998, a huge new personality lobbed on the 500cc stage in the form of big-talking and flashy 250cc star Max Biaggi. The Italian was dead-set on etching his name in the history books as one of the all-time greats right from the start. To do that, he was going to have to add a top-end class title to his four quarter-litre championships. Doohan and Biaggi couldn’t have been more different. Mick was serious, brooding, respectful of the right people, dedicated, while Biaggi liked it loud and proud. He was good, but he needed everyone to know it. All the time. He and Doohan were on a collision course that would define GP racing for a while — both on and off the track — but Biaggi certainly wasn’t all…

Going to bike launches is a lot of fun. The manufacturers put on great events to showcase their latest models and we (the journos) get to see what the bikes are capable of. So with the invite to check out KTM’s latest offerings, we packed our adventure gear and trekked up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for the Asia- Pacific launch of the company’s new adventure bike range: the 1090 Adventure R, 1290 Super Adventure R and the 1290 Super Adventure S. I was pretty pumped about this bike launch. Not only was I keen as mustard to get my hands on the new 1090 Adventure R and 1290 Super Adventure R, but the test route was on great tracks I know well. This was definitely going to be…

VICTORINOX SWISSTOOL Swiss knife and tool outfit Victorinox has launched its range of SwissTools in the new black burnished steel and we’ve got one. I like a tool (steady on) that can fix small dramas on the road. You’ll rarely need it these days, but splicing a wire, tightening errant fasteners and screws, being able to cut a cable tie… you know the niggles that can happen. This thing is not going to allow you to do a top-end rebuild on the road, but it may just save your bacon when one of the zillions of little things that can take place on a trip inevitably does. You can be stopped by the smallest thing and being able to reach the problem and devise a fix, or at least a…

Can I afford it? Is there something better for the money? New bike prices can go up and down like the stock market, so in every issue we’ll bring you the sticker prices. To be completely up to date with things like factory discounts and incentives, check the Road Rider website (www.roadrider.com.au) where we will bring you all the special deals, bonus offers and cashback promotions we can find. We have included the importers’ websites, which is the place to go if you’re looking for more information. You’ll see that we haven’t listed every bike on the market (yet) but we aim to get there with all of them. Sometimes even we struggle to find the details of the smaller, newer importers. Meanwhile, enjoy this most meaningful of Australian bike…

I’ve ridden and tested loads of Harley- Davidsons over the years. From cut-down Sporties to monstrous Ultras, I’ve thrown a leg over most of them. I’ve also always “got” them. The old adage suggesting that riding a Harley is, well, “different” is as true today as it ever was. There’s still that air of mystique, the atmosphere of cool and, it has to be said, some of the compromises that committing to a Hog demands. Oddly, most of the people who knock H-Ds have not ridden one. So I always say, “Ride one. After that come and talk to me.” But, and it’s a big but, I’ve never desired to own any particular one. I have never felt the overwhelming hankering that grabs many to have an H-D tucked away…

Eight years ago, I went to Indonesia and reached Mt Bromo, an active volcano in Eastern Java. It’s a forever-flaming mountain caldera, set into a self-created ash plain; perfection in the purity of earth and fire. A vision appeared. A lone rider on a custom scrambler bike, moving fast towards the volcano, dust clouds trailing behind like a crowd of slow paparazzi. It was forever tattooed across my mind. Sometimes in life you hold things down and keep things steady. Remain steadfast against the ever-rising tides of bullshit. Other times, and these are the rare times, are for fire and brimstone and truly living while you are alive. This is one of those times. My best friend and I are about to roll around Bali and Java for 10 days…

The age-old game of, “If you could only have one bike in your garage to do everything, what would it be?” is something I’m sure we’ve all played over a few beers in the past. Well, I have some bad news for you if you fancy playing it again: I think we have the answer. To be frank, I wasn’t expecting the Tiger Sport, with its wider ‘bars and bouncier suspension, to be much more than a sotter and more comfortable Speed Triple, sharing as they do the same engine and frame, but its ability to be all things to all men, namely commuter, tourer and sportsbike, really took me by surprise. In addition, this is the first bike in ages I’ve sat on and immediately felt like I owned…

Don’t forget to write! We mean it. We love to hear from you and everyone else does too; these pages are among the most popular in the magazine. Preferably, keep left ers under 300 words so we can fit more in, though we will allow the odd exception without taking to it with the editorial knife. Yes, we will chop ’em when we have to. Do include your real name and some contact details, just in case we need to clarify something. Please write to gleech@universalmagazines.com.au or send mail to Road Rider, Unit 5, 6–8 Byfield Street, North Ryde NSW 2113 PINKY LINER CONUNDRUM Dear ARR, I had the same glove problem as you, where the pinky liner in the wet glove refused to get pushed back in. Coincidentally it…

Buying your very first motorcycle is a big deal; it represents much more than the sum of its parts. Yes, a free pass to do whatever, whenever you want. It’s the first paragraph of a long story, and for some of us the beginning of the rest of our lives. We recently asked you guys to hark back to that time when you first threw a leg over your very own bike. We want to capture that wondrous time and bring your stories to our readers — indeed, to share the collective joy that first bike delivers. It may have been in the last century or it may have been last week. It’s all the same stuff . And, well, it struck a big chord. We received hundreds of submissions,…